Coverage of “Fashionable” Muslim Women Cramps Our Style

July 19, 2010 By diana

While the front pages of newspapers feature Muslim women in flowing black abayas, burqas, and chadors, the often thrown-aside life and style sections are offering a very different picture of Muslim women: stylish! “Hijabistas,” trendy up-and-coming Muslim designers (predominantly from the U.K.), and fashion-forward hijabis are appearing on the covers of fashion and entertainment sections in newspapers across the world.

Designer Hana Tajima (right) and model. Image via Susannah Ireland for The Independent.

These “hijabistas” are wearing and designing clothes to reflect “Western fashion” reconciled with a “Muslim dress code,” according to British media outlets BBC and The Independent.

Following this trend of covering “hijabistas,” the Los Angeles Times recently ran a piece on the trend of stylish, hijab-friendly clothing worn by American Muslim women, and the recent emergence of blogs, magazines, and online boutiques that cater to fashion-forward American Muslim women. The article calls on Sama Wareh, a stylish Muslim woman; Tayyibah Taylor, editor in chief of Azizah Magazine; and Jokima Hamidullah, founder of We Love Hijab, to explain this fascination with Muslim fashion that has now captured the attention of newspapers.

Tayyibah explains, “In America, we have a microcosm of the Muslim world. There are 80 different ethnicities. It’s a cultural and spiritual buffet table. American Muslims pick and choose and create their own. Establishing hijab, as both fashion and spiritual, is part of that as well. These young bloggers and the new magazines are part of the building of a cultural architecture, and what is being created is distinctly Muslim American.”

Is this why newspapers seem to be obsessed with reporting on hijab fashion: to contribute to the creation of a distinct Muslim American—or, in the case of BBC and The Independent, a distinct British Muslim identity? While I am glad to see a focus on hijab that is not as “othering” as the typically marginalizing coverage, this seemingly benign widespread news trend still echoes previous discourse surrounding the hijab. The similarities are subtle, but nonetheless they are present.

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Fashion Statements

March 4, 2010 By Guest Contributor

This is an edited version of an article published at Café Pyala. You can read the article in its entirety at their website.

A design from Khaadi's collection. Image AFP, via The Dawn.

Oh, shoot. Here we go again with coverage of Fashion Week in Pakistan. Can we do anything in Pakistan without it being linked in some way to either appeasing the Taliban or kicking sand in their faces?

I refer of course to the latest “I-spit-on-the-runway-the-Taliban-sashay-down” type of pieces in the American Christian Science Monitor (titled predictably “Lahore Fashion Week Takes on Talibanization in Pakistan”) and in Britain’s The Times about the just concluded Lahore Fashion Week. The latter may be headlined a bit more soberly (“Pakistan Fashion Week Pushes Back Boundaries”), but the prose is nothing less than a deep shade of purple.

For example, here are the opening lines:

“A call to prayer echoed over the red carpet. The celebrity guests and socialites of Lahore lifted their diamante stilettos through the scarlet pile, careful not to trip as they showed lipsticked smiles – and bare shoulders – to the flashing camera bulbs.”

Just in case you forgot what The Times was aiming to get at, you understand. Gasp! Muslims. Fashion. Shock. Bare shoulders. Horror.

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Everywoman: Hijab Fashion

September 24, 2008 By Muslimah Media Watch

It seems that lately there is a lot of focus on hijab fashion. Not too long ago, I wrote an entry for MMW about this issue. Everywoman, a program produced by Al Jazeera English, did a piece on hijabi fashion. The program looked at the fashion choices of a group of hijabis in England in one of their episodes. The piece seemed rather odd, since it came right after a segment that focused on a Buddhist woman trying to gain ordination as a monk. But I digress.

From the beginning of the segment, I found so many things that rubbed me the wrong way. The first was that good old dichotomy between “Western” fashion and being modest. The host, Shiulie Ghosh, introduces the segment by asking how Muslim women in the West combine the need to modest and the desire to be fashionable. When did “modest” and “fashionable” become antonyms? Hijabis stay “fashionable” the way all other women who want to be “fashionable” do. It’s not rocket science. Also, what is our definition of modesty? I know this point has been hounded, but we really do say a lot when automatically equate hijabis with modesty. Are Muslim women who don’t wear not modest?

Another reason why I find the “how do hijabis manage to be so fashionable?” inquiries so annoying is because they mostly otherize hijabis. I always get the sense the inquiries aren’t made out of a genuine sense of curiosity, but rather a sense of trying to wrap one’s head around the other.

Then the host of the segment, Amani Zain, asks what do you do when you’re in a society where the fashion is geared towards hot pants and strapless tops? This also made me pause. I didn’t know that every woman in the West wore this type of fashion. My mother didn’t wear hot pants or strapless tops even before she converted to Islam. Women in the West don’t all dress alike. Some wear hot pants and some like my mother wear long skirts. Why is there a constant need by many in the media to create this either/or dichotomy between “Western” women and Muslim women? I put Western in quotation marks because when we constantly compare Western women and Muslim women we assume that Muslim women cannot be Western, even if there are Muslim women like myself and most of the writers on this blog who were born and raised in Western societies.

Zain went shopping with one hijabi. She talked about how accessorizes her clothing and goes to shops that cater to hijabis. Most of what the woman said was not new, especially for other hijabis. In fact, as I watched, I kept wondering what the big deal was. I suppose it is hard for me to put myself in the shoes of a non-Muslim who may be watching the show, but I don’t know if a non-Muslim would really learn much from the show either. The same woman who spoke a few times about dressing in accordance with how her “Creator” commands her to dress. She seemed a bit oblivious to the fact that not all Muslims believe that the Qur’an mandates hijab. This is probably nitpicking, but I think statements like that do reinforce to a non-Muslim audience a homogenous thought about hijab that does not exist among Muslims.

Lastly, hijabi fashion stories reinforce the idea that all women care about being pretty and keeping up with the latest fashion trends. Hijabis are forced into mainstream ideals of beauty. On the website for Everywoman, one of the stated missions for the show is to “dig deeper to uncover the stories that women want told.” So stories like the hijab fashion piece reinforce the notion that women want to be told about how to be pretty. Some women may indeed want that. However, I question if that should be a on news show that is suppose to cover serious issues that women care about.

A Fashionable Aim: MSLM Magazine

April 14, 2008 By Muslimah Media Watch

Attention, Muslim fashion junkies in the Netherlands: you now have a magazine that caters to you! MSLM magazine is a project by the Media and Moving Art (MAMA) initiative. It aims to showcase the fashions of “A group of young fashion-minded women, mostly 2nd generation, Muslim, clearly stands out on the dutch society.” [sic]

Not only is it a magazine, but it was also an art exhibition last year in the MAMA showroom (pictured here). The curator of the show speaks about it here, and you can see more pictures from the exhibition here. Since I don’t speak Dutch and there is a limited amount of information in English, I’m not sure whether this is a one-time publication, or if they have plans for regular publication. (fingers crossed there will be more)

I haven’t been able to get myself a copy of it, but from what I can tell from the curator’s blog and the MAMA site, this is a great project. It’s stated explicitly on the magazine’s site: “Because these young women grew up in the Netherlands, because they ARE dutch, their background creates a fashion-clash which results in new interesting forms and silhouettes for both Muslim and non-Muslim women.” [sic]

So often in the West, Muslim women are seen as somehow divorced from the west, no matter how long they have been there, how much they have put into their homes and families there. The fact that the exhibition/magazine aims to show the integration of a Muslim identity with a Dutch one is a good step.

I also really like the clothes. When thinking about covering oneself, and especially covering one’s hair, there isn’t a lot of variation in the options shown to young Muslim women: usually it’s some combo of scarf, shirtdress, and long skirt or pants. The great thing about this exhibit and magazine is that not only do they illustrate and accept the fact that Muslim women cover themselves differently, but they give us a few ideas on how to wear our identities proudly through fashion.

That’s something I can definitely try on.

En Vogue: Muslim Women in Fashion News

March 11, 2008 By Muslimah Media Watch

A smattering of articles have appeared in newspapers lately, aiming to spread the word about how fashionable Muslim women are. These articles seem to refute the idea that Muslim women are against or unreceptive to fashion: “You can be religious and fashionable! Lots of them are! See?”

Is this supposed to be a compliment? Generalizing an entire religious group into a massive worldwide body of snappy dressers?

I wrote earlier on the popular perception of Muslim/Middle Eastern women as label whores, and many of these articles play up that exact angle. The Independent’s article, written by Sarah Buys, openly states, “This [retail development in the Gulf], in turn, has given rise to one of the most sartorially savvy, high-fashion buying demographs in the world. Middle Eastern Muslim women aren’t just prolific shoppers, now they are discerning, prolific shoppers.”

“Quit your bitching,” you might say. “It’s a compliment to be considered fashionable. What’s your problem?” My problem is that, with this characterization of Muslims as rich and fashionable, we slide right into “label whore” territory, which brings along with it labels like “rich Arab teenager” or the “spoiled Persian princess,” both younger cousins to the harmful Jewish-American Princess stereotype. These are class-based stereotypes that attach themselves to specific ethnicities and, now, to Muslims. They are not compliments.

If that’s not offensive enough for you, we can always take a look at the underlying Orientalism surrounding these articles. The title of The Independent’s article is “Muslin women: Beneath the Veil.” And The New York Sun piece, written by Jesse Sposato, is entitled, “Conservative Muslim Women Hide Knack for Fashion Under Their Religious Robes.” All this “beneath the veil” crap is tired. Women who wear more conservative clothes in line with their interpretations of Islamic requirements just wear clothes under those things! But these articles can’t be satisfied with that. What kind of clothes?

Hold on to your fantasies: they wear sexy clothes! Sposato’s article recounts a young woman’s anecdote about what a girl she knew would wear under her abaya: “When I was living in Dubai, there was a girl who wore a closed abaya with a bikini under it! She would just be at university walking around with a bikini under her abaya, and nobody would know. It was great.”

And Buys doesn’t even wait to get into the article to fantasize about what Muslim women are wearing under there. She comes right out and sexualizes us all in the tagline: “…And under that shapeless, monochrome exterior, don’t be surprised to find a daring and imaginative sense of style – not to mention a miniskirt or pink hot pants.”

So, according to these articles, Muslim women walking around in austere black robes are practically naked underneath. Ironic, isn’t it? The majority of these women wear conservative clothes to take focus away from their bodies (in line with cultural practices or certain Islamic schools of thought), and these articles bring it right back to them.

These articles would make more sense to me if these papers were doing some sort of style profile on several different religions; Islam is not the only religion with modesty guidelines. But singling out Muslim women (none of the articles mentioned modesty requirements for men) in order to sexually hint at what’s “underneath the veil” just doesn’t sit well with me.

Her Modesty: A New Fashion Magazine for Muslim Women

November 13, 2007 By Muslimah Media Watch

Her Modesty is a new fashion glossy created by and for Muslim women. The magazine evolved from a blog and an online magazine. The goal of the magazine’s creator is “to display how sisters can be covered but yet still feel good about themselves and how they look.”

The magazine caters to Muslim women who observe hejab. The creator says that “all of the pictures will feature hijab – although we know that some sisters don’t wear it. We just feel that it’s important to present a magazine that is truely [sic] about the covered modern woman.” (Hasn’t she ever heard of Azizah?) While I dislike the exclusionary practices (and perhaps politics?) behind the idea of only showcasing hejabis, it’s a positive step towards normalizing modest clothing and hejab in the West. And everyone knows how hard it is to find clothing that covers what we want it to (whether you want it to cover everything but your face and your hands, or you just don’t want to show any cleavage).

Check them out. The first issue is to premier in January, but you need a subscription!

Friday Links

October 30, 2015 By eren

Afghanistan

Afghan rights activist Aziza Rahimzada has been nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize – an award previously won by Malala Yousafzai – and, like her Pakistani counterpart, hopes to spread her message of universal education and fundamental rights for Afghanistan’s youth.

Australia

A man attacked a 21-year-old Muslim woman outside the State Library of Victoria. The man then reportedly held a knife at a Muslim boy, 16, who tried to intervene. Although the police launched an investigation, a police spokesperson was quoted as saying, “We do not believe the offender tried to pull off the victim’s hijab,” adding that investigators did not believe a weapon was used.

India

The Supreme Court of India has expressed concern over Muslim women facing arbitrary divorces and bigamy. Justices have said this is an issue of gender discrimination that has been neglected, but that must be addressed.

Iraq

A recent survey published by the Iraqi Women’s Journalists Forum (IWJF) found that eight in 10 women in Iraq have suffered some form of sexual harassment.

Malta

A niqab ban has been proposed in Malta and the Muslim community has called on legislators to vote against it as this would violate the rights of Muslim women. Earlier this month, civil liberties minister Helena Dalli was quoted saying that the burqa and the niqab “are not garments that one would associate with this community, so a clearer ban on face coverings should carry no impact on the vast majority of Muslims in any way.”

Morocco

Morocco’s National Council for Human Rights has recommended that men and women should have an equal share in inheritance. This recommendation has caused a lot of controversy.

Saudi Arabia

It has been reported that more and more Saudis are opting for the “misyar” marriage due to unaffordable living expenses. The misyar is a type of marriage contract with the stipulation that the couple give up certain rights of a normal marriage, such as living together and the wife’s right to housing and living expenses.

Sweden

In 2007 Iman Aldebe was commissioned to create the hijab hat that now forms part of the official Swedish police uniform for those female Muslim officers who choose to wear it. Aldebe explains how, in the past, many Muslim women in Sweden felt that they could not apply for jobs that imposed regulations regarding dress. The result was that their career options could be limited. Her designs seek to address this gap.

U.K.

Sara Khan is determined to protect young Muslim women from the lure of extremism through Inspire, a women’s rights organisation that is at the forefront of the British government’s ideological campaign against ISIS.

Donald Trump was caught “joking” about the fact that women in the Islamic world might prefer to wear burqas because “it lessens the need to apply make-up.”